Jug c. 1938

Frank Fumagalli made this drawing of a jug with what looks like watercolour or maybe gouache on paper. The palette is all earth tones; tans, browns, warm greys and beiges. It’s interesting how Fumagalli suggests the jug's roundness with subtle shifts in tone, layering the pigment in thin washes. I love the way he hasn't tried to hide his working; you can see his hand in the small, tentative marks which build up the form gradually. Look closely, and you can even see some hard edges where the artist has changed his mind, redrawing the outline slightly. These little imperfections make the drawing feel very alive. It reminds me a bit of Giorgio Morandi's still lifes, where everyday objects are rendered with a quiet intensity, as if the process of looking and painting is more important than the subject matter itself. With this drawing, Fumagalli isn't just showing us a jug, he's inviting us to contemplate the simple beauty of a humble object, seen through the eyes of an artist.